Getting to know more Haston's...

Today we took a very scenic drive to the towns of Cookville and Sparta to visit with Scott's family. We had about an hour and a half drive of nothing but beautiful green trees, rolling hills, crossing over flowing rivers and even over a bridge with an amazing view of a lake. The scenery took my breath away as we would pass large, older houses... Each one we passed had more character than the last. Most had beautiful wooden rocking chairs on their front porch and we would even pass families who were out rocking and enjoying the beautiful day. We would pass bill boards that would make me laugh, mostly because they would remind me I am far from home. One in particular read 'if you died today, where would you spend eternity?' I also chuckled to myself as we would pass safety colored orange mailboxes... GO VOLS! Ha Ha! As we got off at our exit for our first stop we came to a street called 'ditty'. The street was incredible. Small and narrow, of course, but just green as far as the eye could see. We saw soy bean fields, huge barns, both old and new. Each one was just beautiful, I felt like an old story I had read was just coming alive before my eyes. The sound was also something I'd never heard before... It was silence, pure silence. As we pull up to 'Uncle Kenneth's' house we pull in right besides a LARGE corn field. I was amazed. I truly had never seen a corn field before. My city brain was amazed. I had never thought about and could not grasp that these beautiful ears of corn are what I buy in a grocery store. The whole process just ran through my brain. I seriously thought it was awesome. In front of the corn field was a huge honeysuckle bush that was covered with the largest butterflies I had ever seen. Truly beautiful and they were just fluttering all around, there was probably over 50 just hovering over this one bush. The view was surreal... We had a nice visit with Scott's Uncle and he enjoyed meeting Charlie Mae. He showed her his fish and showed off his pet trick as well! Papa, caught a grasshopper and Charlie was able to get a close look at that too. I stayed back of course, but encouraged her to explore. Papa talked about his huge 'antlers' but I think he meant antennas! Ha!

Our next stop was just a short drive a few miles down the road. Next visit was Aunt Caroline, Ernie's sister. Charlie Mae had a blast there. She was able to see a pony, chickens, and even let a goat nibble on her! Plus, she watched Caroline gather up a few eggs. Aunt Caroline also let Charlie Mae take pictures with her camera and little Charlie Mae loves to take pictures!! As we left Aunt Caroline's Charlie asked if she could go 'visit cousins with kids!' I guess she was ready to meet her new friends!

We still had one more stop before we got to cousins with kids! We went and saw Scott's cousin Josh and his wife Dana. They were a lot of fun. They are close in age to me and Scott and don't have any kids yet. They have a beautiful house that is going to be a cool spot for us to hang out (pool table in the garage cool). Ha! Scott of course talked about fishing and let Josh know he is anxious to go! I'm sure they will be out on a lake soon! It was very comforting to be with family, also to see the joy on my husbands face. He hadn't seen this side of his family in five years! That's a long time. He really missed them and thanks to 'facebook' we all knew what was going on in each others lives. It was comforting for me to be able to have conversation and be welcomed so warmly since my family is so far away.

Final stop... Aunt Jeans! Oh we had a blast here! Another beautiful view, corn fields, cow pastures, large green trees, beautiful house. Jean is Ernie's other sister and she is married to Uncle Richard. They have 2 kids and 4 grandkids! There was so many toys for Charlie to play with and an awesome swing set for her to play on outside. Scott's cousins Richie & Tanya showed up with their 2 girls, Molly and Emma. The 3 girls had so much fun playing. They all hugged and kissed and just had a wonderful time. They talked about what they like to do, play dress up, tea party and everything Disney Princess! It was too cute! They also talked about Charlie's birthday next week and screamed when they heard they'd be together. When it was time for them to say goodbye Charlie and Molly hugged and kissed and then Molly picked a flower for Charlie to take with her. I sure thought it was funny how we all knew each other and it came out just how well we knew each other in conversation! We made jokes about Tanya always being late & losing her phone(s)! They knew right away I was not a bug fan and was strict on Charlie's diet. We all really had a lot of fun! As a mother I was proud that Charlie could interact so well with new friends and that she knew right away there was a lot of love in the room and that she was with family. To me family is so important. I have a large family and have always lived so close to them, so spending time with Scott's family today put joy in my heart. It was great to see how much they already loved both Charlie and Addison. Everyone had fun with Addison too. She went to everyone and just smiled the whole time. She really is a sweet baby!
We came home a different way than we went. Both of the girls slept the whole way home which was nice. We passed through a historic town called 'Watertown' it was a very small town. Population 1600. I felt like I was on the back lot of universal studios! It was just so funny. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was neat! Very old, and so much character. Just unique, I could tell a lot of things had been filmed out there. Classic southern, small country time feel! It was awesome!
I'm starting to notice so many things that are different that one would never think about. For example: toilet seat covers! I have not been to one place that has had them! Ice tea!! I have to say 'unsweetened' or I will get brown sugar water! I went into the bank on Friday at 5pm and I didn't wait in line! When our car broke down Scott waited 4 hours for a tow! The AC comes out of the floor. Oh and the mexican food is tasteless! The portion sizes at restaurants are twice as big as to what I am use too. The pace is slow, no one is in a hurry! Those are just a few different things that I thought I'd share...
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